The recent flooding in Iowa and in my state of Illinois has been tragic.  But, I am getting sick of hearing people (and media like CNN) blame the government for the floods and the fact that most homeowners didn’t have flood insurance.  This was supposedly a five hundred year event.  It was an “act of God.”

If we required building standards and insurance that covered every event that might only happen twice per millennium, then we would have to spend a fortune on construction costs, public works projects, and insurance.  The same people who are blaming the government now would criticize the government for these onerous and expensive requirements if they were to be enacted.

Now, I don’t know whether this was really a five hundred year event or not.  Maybe it wasn’t, or it won’t be in the future.  But, I do know that if you live near a river or next to a levy, then you should anticipate that flooding is within the realm of possibility.

And, it is completely false to say that the government told these property-owners that they didn’t need flood insurance.  Just because the government didn’t require it, does not mean that flood insurance was not available or that these people were precluded from getting it.  In fact, just the opposite was true.